1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to food serving utensils, and more particularly, food utensils for use with food buffets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the past twenty years, Americans have seen the increase of both spouses entering the work force. This has resulted in an increase in spendable income for the family. This increase in income permits the family to enjoy such luxuries as two cars, color televisions and luxurious vacations. Also, Americans, in general, are spending more time away from home for both work and pleasure. As a result, more people are eating their meals in restaurants.
Buffets are one of the most popular forms of restaurants. Buffets typically include many different types of appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts placed in food trays along a buffet table.
Spoons or forks are generally provided with each buffet dish. The customer or patron uses the utensils to remove as much food as he or she desires from the buffet dish onto their plate and then places the utensils back into the buffet dish. The patron continues this process throughout the buffet table, and then goes to his or her seat to eat the food using food utensils provided by the restaurant.
Sanitation has always been a concern of buffet restaurant owners, as well as the restaurant customers. Restaurant owners are well aware of the economical and devastating effect that results from an outbreak of food poisoning in a restaurant.
Great progress has been made in mandating the supervision of food preparation and employees personal hygiene within the restaurant industry in order to safeguard the future of the dining out segment of the food service industry. However, this is not good enough, since customer cross-contamination is also possible in the buffet environment by various customers using the same buffet food utensils and breathing onto the buffet food.
The food service industry specifically addressed the latter concern by including buffet sneeze guards over the buffet tables (see for example, Applicant""s U.S. Design Pat. No. 186,927). However, the cross-contamination of customers has never been addressed. It is known that Streptococcal, E. coli and Staph bacteria congregate on human hands and may be passed among customers using the same utensils. Also, Hepatitis A may likewise be passed among customers in the same manner. Furthermore, the bacteria and virus also can contact the food, thereby contaminating the food.
To overcome this cross-contamination problem, it has been proposed to issue disposable gloves to buffet customers. However, use of such gloves has been rejected for several reasons, namely: (1) the patron""s resentment of the inference that they have unclean hands; (2) the unwillingness of the patron to wear disposable gloves; (3) the inconvenience of putting on and removing the gloves while holding a plate of food, plus the awkward appearance of everyone wearing gloves; and (4) the gloves are easily contaminated by touching other items, thereby giving the wearer a false sense of security.
It has also been suggested that the patron be issued his or her own utensils for use only with the buffet dishes. However, this would require an inordinate number of serving utensils and is, therefore, not practical. Likewise, it has been suggested that a sanitation box be provided for use with the buffet utensils before removing food from the buffet dishes. This too is impractical and would be tremendously confusing to the customer.
Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide a simple, effective, efficient, aesthetically pleasing and inexpensive solution to prevent customer cross-contamination of buffet utensils.
My invention is a buffet utensil that includes a utensil portion (such as a spoon, fork, knife or other food implement shape) secured to an end of a shank. A coupling, such as a splined coupling, is provided at the other end of the shank. A handle is provided having an open end and defining a cavity adapted to matingly receive the coupling. A spring loaded clamp is provided on the handle to engage the shank.
The handle is adapted to be removably secured to the shank. Initially, the clamp is maintained in an open position and matingly receives the splined coupling within the cavity. The clamp is then maintained in a closed position thereby removably securing the handle to the shank. The above process is reversed to disengage the handle from or engaging the shank.
In the buffet setting, each buffet dish includes a first portion of the utensil, which includes the utensil portion and the shank. Before starting down the buffet table, each customer is issued their own detachable handle which easily clamps onto all of the serving utensils already on the buffet table. The detachable handle stays with the customer for his or her entire trip around the buffet table. This customer is the only person who touches the handle as he or she serves themselves from the buffet table. The customer engages the handle with the shank as described above for only those utensil first portions contained within buffet dishes he or she desires food from. The customer places the food on their plate and then disengages the handle from the shank.
After filling their plate with food from the buffet table, the customer simply disposes of the handle.
The handles can then be taken to the dish washing department where they are properly washed, sanitized and returned to the dining room for reuse.
Should the customer desire to return to the buffet and for additional food, then he or she would use another detachable handle.
A clip or holding member can be provided to hold the first portion of the utensil.